H.P.S A New Era (2013 Onwards)

Heidelberg Primary School has a very proud tradition of educating students on this site for over 158 years and in some ways our buildings tell this story. Our library wall and cottage are all that remains of the original early school. In 1923 as the area grew, the red brick building we know as the ‘main building’ was built. In the 1970’s, the four classrooms we know as the ‘infant building’ were moved into their present position, bricked and refurbished to accommodate changes in the school.

In 2012, we continued to write our history as we opened our new building funded under the federal Governments, Building the Education Revolution. This 2.5 million dollar build has transformed the way our school not only operates, but has allowed us to redefine how we use the space at Heidelberg PS to make us not only geographically better connected as a school, but to enhance the way we learn.

In some ways to recognise and appreciate just what we have gained, we need to acknowledge and revisit the somewhat difficult journey we went on to get here. In November 2008 School Council received the news that we were to receive some funding to upgrade our classrooms. This initial news was very exciting, however we were overjoyed when in 2009 the BER project was announced.

Over the next 12 months we were confronted by the challenges of a difficult site. After many designs and models were looked at and we tried to fit different templates onto our grounds, School Council made the brave, long term decision to place a new building in the middle of the school. We believed it would allow us to link all our buildings together and realign our playspace. It meant lifting the existing tiger-turf and although we tried to save it, we reluctantly saw the tiger-turf carted away.

As “builders world” was established and the fences went up, we began to realise just what this build would mean on a day to day basis. Everyday we would walk around the site, up and down the site. If sports equipment went over the fence we knew we had to wait to get it back.

When the rain came and the underground water poured into the big hole, we began to think we were building a new swimming pool. As the engineers went back to the drawing board, we sunk our foundations further into the ground and built a floating floor. We kept on adjusting our play space, kept on learning.

One day we walked in and the new steps were completed. We were all so excited that we had direct access to the lower space. For some reason this seemed to signal that this dream was going to become a reality.

In 2011 this magnificent building started to emerge and we began to see what a great space it would be to learn in.

Today we all get the opportunity to use the central space if we want to combine with other classes or just have more space. At lunchtime we can all use the decks. Our prep students have been able to create an amazing world during their “investigations time” and Mr Jackson has a home for everyone to use the iPads and laptops.

Was it worth it? – absolutely. This is a building for now and for the future. For this and the next generation to enjoy and learn in. Today we are very proud to have written another chapter in our schools history.